Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials

Tom Crisp

Biography

British rider Tom Crisp (38) runs Team Crisp Eventing with his wife Sophie in Mayfield, East Sussex. With Coolys Luxury Tom has completed Burghley three times – in 2017 they were 16th and in 2014 gained a career best when the pair was 11th – but they have yet to complete Badminton.

Tom first came to prominence in 1999 when he finished second in the Young Rider National Championship at Bramham with Barnabys Ballard. The pair represented Great Britain at that year’s Young Rider European Championship at Necarne Castle winning team silver.

Since then Tom has produced a succession of young horses from scratch to advanced level, including his former four-star ride Liberal.

Tom was born in Norfolk and after school went to Ireland to pursue a career in eventing which was followed by various placements before he set up his own yard in his home county. Tom, and his wife Sophie (nee Balfour), who also events and rode at Badminton in 2000, then relocated to Mayfield in East Sussex where they now have a 60-acre yard including a small stud, breeding future event horses.

As well as being a professional rider Tom is also a retained firefighter – when the call comes he has to drop whatever he is doing to become part of a vital team. He also enjoys building and has recently started building a house.

Tom and Sophie have two young sons; Harry (10) and Hugo (8).

Coolys Luxury, owned by The Swift Syndicate, is a 16-year-old ISH gelding. He is by the Irish-based Belgian-bred stallion Olympic Lux (also the sire of Badminton entry BLM Diamond Lux). He is out of a mare by the three-quarter bred Glen Bar (sire of Olympic horse Giltedge [David O’Connor] and Glenwherry the dam of Paul Tapner’s former stallion Wickstead Didgeridoo). Coolys Luxury was acquired from his former rider Jo Rimmer in 2010 with whom he competed to two-star. In 2013 with Tom he completed his first four-star at Pau.